Zurich North America is looking for a Senior Data Scientist, Deep Learning to join our growing Data & Analytics Team.  This position will be based out of our North American Headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois in a hybrid schedule.

You will join a team that uses that uses a combination of machine learning, deep learning, and statistical analysis to solve our business partners’ most pressing problems and help our customers better understand their risks. This individual should be an independent leader who can drive our advanced AI initiatives, particularly around NLP and document understanding.  The successful individual will have experience deploying real world deep learning models to production, having functioned in roles such as machine learning scientist, machine learning engineer, applied AI scientist, or similar.  

In this role you will:

• Use state-of-the-art deep learning approaches (e.g. CNN, transformer, RNN/LSTM/GRU, GCN/GNN) to extract value from massive amounts of unstructured data (text, images).
• Design and develop machine learning and deep learning systems to deliver meaningful technology to the business.
• Mentor junior team members in the formulation, execution, and delivery of machine learning models.  Operate as a technical leader on the project scrum team.
• Write production-ready code to deliver end-to-end AI solutions, working closely with Software, Data, MLOps, and ML Platform engineers.
• Create large, well curated datasets for training models, often using advanced methods to obtain sufficient annotations.
• Contribute to the development of our model monitoring framework to ensure the algorithms are performing as intended.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to understand their challenges and develop leading technology that delivers business impact.
• Support stakeholders after deployment to ensure impact is achieved.
• Contribute to the development and adoption of best practices and tooling.
• Stay up to date with the latest advancements in the field and how they can support a variety of initiatives.  

Basic Qualifications: 

• High School Diploma or Equivalent with 7 or more years of experience in Computer Science, Statistics or Mathematics and experience transforming data in the business analysis area OR
• Zurich Certified Insurance Apprentice including an Associate Degree in Computer Science, Statistics or Mathematics and 5 or more years of experience transforming data in the business analysis area OR
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Statistics or Mathematics and 5 or more years of experience transforming data in the business analysis area OR
• Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Statistics or Mathematics and 3 or more years of experience transforming data in the business analysis area OR
• PhD in Computer Science, Statistics or Mathematics and 0 or more years of experience transforming data in the business analysis area 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience delivering deep learning-based solutions to solve business problems.
• Experience deploying machine learning models to production, particularly in a cloud environment (i.e. Azure, AWS, GCP).
• Significant experience with machine learning and deep learning frameworks such as sklearn and PyTorch/Tensorflow/Keras.
• Significant experience working with large amounts of unstructured data such as images and text.      Experience with unsupervised, self-supervised, semi-supervised, contrastive learning, and transfer learning methods is a plus.
• Advanced knowledge of fine-tuning (e.g. PEFT, LoRA, RLHF) and customizing large language models (e.g. GPT, BERT, Flan-T5, Llama, Dolly, BART), embedding approaches (e.g. Word2Vec, t-SNE), prompt engineering, and vector databases.
• Strong software engineering skills including familiarity with best practices around version control (e.g. Git, Azure DevOps), testing (e.g. PyTest, unittest), containerization (e.g. Docker), and experiment tracking (e.g. MLFlow).
• Experience with distributed data processing technologies (e.g. pyspark).
• Prior experience building NLP data pipelines using a variety of data sources.
• Familiarity with graphical methods, graph-databases, and pattern mining techniques.
• Advanced knowledge of statistical and predictive modeling techniques such as machine learning, decision trees, probability networks, association rules, clustering, regression, GLMs, SVMs, HMMs, and neural networks and their application to business decisions.
• Ability to explain deep technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Past experience as a technical lead, scrum master, or technical product owner.
• Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to mentor more junior team members.
• Experience working in an agile framework such as scrum or kanban.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

As a condition of employment at Zurich, employees must adhere to any COVID-related health and safety protocols in place at that time (https://www.zurichna.com/careers/faq).

A future with Zurich. What can go right when you apply at Zurich?

Now is the time to move forward and make a difference. At Zurich, we want you to share your unique perspectives, experiences and ideas so we can grow and drive sustainable change together. As part of a leading global organization, Zurich North America has over 150 years of experience managing risk and supporting resilience. Today, Zurich North America is a leading provider of commercial property-casualty insurance solutions and a wide range of risk management products and services for businesses and individuals. We serve more than 25 industries, from agriculture to technology, and we insure 90% of the Fortune 500®. Our growth strategy is not limited to our business. As an employer, we strive to provide ongoing career development opportunities, and we foster an environment where voices are diverse, behaviors are inclusive, actions drive equity, and our people feel a sense of belonging. Be a part of the next evolution of the insurance industry. Join us in building a brighter future for our colleagues, our customers and the communities we serve. Zurich maintains a comprehensive employee benefits package for employees as well as eligible dependents and competitive compensation. Please click here to learn more.

As a global company, Zurich recognizes the diversity of our workforce as an asset. We recruit talented people from a variety of backgrounds with unique perspectives that are truly welcome here. Taken together, diversity and inclusion bring us closer to our common goal: exceeding our customers’ expectations. Zurich does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other legally protected status. EOE disability/vet 

Zurich does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms or employment agencies. Any unsolicited resume will become the property of Zurich American Insurance. If you are a preferred vendor, please use our Recruiting Agency Portal for resume submission. 

Location(s): AM - Schaumburg
Remote Working: Hybrid
Schedule: Full Time
Employment Sponsorship Offered: Yes  
 
Linkedin Recruiter Tag: #LI-MG1 #LI-ASSOCIATE